With brands like Kat Von D and tarte, enhance your beauty routine with these cruelty-free, vegan cosmetics that make it to our beauty lust list...
Living clean and green ain’t just about eating organic produce and dining at vegetarian restaurants. It’s also about the organic skincare in your beauty stash, so why not go green with vegan and cruelty-free cosmetics? For starters, cruelty-free simply means that the product is no way tested on animals, while vegan means that it’s cleared of animal-based ingredients. The two don’t always go hand-in-hand, but it doesn’t hurt to check the label (look out for the cruelty-free bunny!).
Whether you’re a hardcore vegan or a beauty junkie looking to enhance your makeup routine with naturally sourced ingredients, we’re here to help you navigate the world of vegan, cruelty-free makeup, starting with some of our go-to brands…
An affordable alternative: Nyx
Cruelty-free; selected vegan products
On a budget? Say no more. This affordable drugstore beauty brand offers pigmented products in natural and vibrant shades. Winning must-haves include lippies such as the Soft Matte Lip Creams (it comes in a whopping 46 shades, as well as 12 metallic hues) and the nude-loving Lip Lingerie. Its vegan HD Studio Photogenic concealers are a good bang for your buck. Nyx is also ace for makeup rookies — the Professional Makeup Love Contours All Palette has nine eyeshadows, two highlighters, two contouring shades and two brow powders (here’s what our Honeycombers photographer has to say about it!).
Nyx, available at Sephora stores islandwide and standalone stores including Bugis Junction (#01-111) and Plaza Singapura (#B1-36)
For serving edgy looks: Urban Decay
Cruelty-free
This bold and edgy beauty brand prides itself on staying cruelty-free. Expect an endless selection of high-performance beauty products, ranging from super-pigmented and buttery eyeshadows including the Naked palettes, to creamy, kissable lip products such as the Vice Liquid Lipsticks that come in matte and metallic finishes — perfect for all-day wear!
Urban Decay, available at Sephora stores islandwide
For gorgeous packaging: Tarte
Cruelty-free and vegan
A hot fave amongst makeup gurus, tarte touts itself as a leader in eco-chic beauty: its products are infused with superfruit and plant extracts, vitamins, and are free of parabens or synthetic fragrances. But what do we love most about tarte? Its pretty packaging with vibrant colours and gorgeous prints that’s made from sustainable and recyclable materials. In Bloom palette aside, have you seen its mermaid collection?
Tarte, available online and at Sephora stores islandwide
For power tools sans the guilt: Ecotools
Cruelty-free and vegan
Due to its availability in drugstores, Ecotools makes a great starter kit for any makeup newbies. But don’t dismiss it just yet. 100% cruelty-free and vegan, these synthetic brushes are made from recycled plastic and aluminium, and feature handles made from bamboo. Makeup brushes aside, Ecotools also stocks powerful hair brushes with an EcoVent design that dries hair quicker and more efficiently as compared to commercial brushes.
Shop Ecotools at Watson’s or buy online
For contours that slay: Kat Von D
Cruelty-free and vegan
Known for its high-pigmentation, long-wear and eye-popping shades, Kat Von D’s eponymous cosmetic brand embodies her signature style of Old Hollywood glamour fused with rock ‘n’ roll — expect black, goth-like packaging with colours befitting of Monroe-esque bombshells. Staying true to her tattoo artistry, her makeup range, including my go-to Shade + Light contour palette, is inspired by years of tattooing portraits and understanding the interplay between shadow and light. New to the brand is its eyebrow collection: 24-hour longwear eyebrow pomades, quality synthetic brow brushes, dimension powder to mimic the sheen of real hair as well as precision pencils to resemble the effects of microblading.
Kat Von D Beauty, available at Sephora stores islandwide
For inclusive shade ranges: Fenty Beauty
Cruelty-free and mostly vegan
RiRi’s hyped up beauty brand is the real deal. Fenty Beauty’s shade ranges are one of the widest around (we’re talking 40 from fair to deep for its liquid foundation, and 20 shades for its custom concealer). Cruelty-free, most of its products are vegan, although some do contain ingredients of animal origin, like beeswax.
Fenty Beauty, available at Sephora ION Orchard
For (cool) luxury makeup: Hourglass Cosmetics
Cruelty-free and mostly vegan
Despite their pricetag and rabid following, luxury makeup brands aren’t always clued in on new trends or technologies that give younger and hipper cult cosmetic brands an edge. Founder of Hourglass Cosmetics Carissa James identified this void early on in 2004, and has since filled it with breakthrough formulas, groundbreaking ingredients and innovative packaging. Entirely cruelty-free, the brand is striving towards being 100% vegan by 2020. For now, it has a vegan tab in its website for you to easily bag products without animal-derived ingredients, like its cult Voyeur Waterproof Liquid Liner.
Hourglass Cosmetics, available at Sephora
For full coverage: Cover FX
Cruelty-free and vegan
When it comes to true full coverage, look no further than Cover FX. The vegan brand’s high-performing formulas and diverse range of foundation (40 shades and 3 undertones, to be exact!) are suitable for those with sensitive skin, acne, rosacea, or other skin conditions. Its cream concealer is also fab for concealing under-eyes and blemishes, and made without parabens, sulphates and talc — win!
Cover FX, available at Sephora stores islandwide
For bold eye colours: 3ina
Cruelty-free
We’re all about inclusive makeup, and European brand 3ina (pronounced mee-nah) is no stranger. I am personally a big fan of the cruelty and paraben-free brand for its range of bold and vibrant colours, especially its cream eyeshadows, pencil eyeshadow, eyeshadow paint and colour mascara which I have on heavy rotation. Its lush, guilt-free products are also packaged sustainably with recyclable materials.
3INA, available at ION Orchard Linkway (#B2-67) and Tampines Mall (#01-27)
For contours that slay: Kat Von D
Cruelty-free and vegan
Known for its high-pigmentation, long-wear and eye-popping shades, Kat Von D’s eponymous cosmetic brand embodies her signature style of Old Hollywood glamour fused with rock ‘n’ roll — expect black, goth-like packaging with colours befitting of Monroe-esque bombshells. Staying true to her tattoo artistry, her makeup range, including my go-to Shade + Light contour palette, is inspired by years of tattooing portraits and understanding the interplay between shadow and light.
Kat Von D, available at Sephora stores islandwide
For au naturale makeup: Too Faced
Cruelty-free
Prefer natural-looking makeup with a slight edge? Too Faced’s the one for you! Its cruelty-free products come in range of colours that focus on neutral shades. Oh, and did we mention its adorable packaging? You won’t find a beauty junkie without its iconic Chocolate Bar eye palette (we can’t get enough of it’s divine chocolatey scent), its Primed & Poreless pressed powder which is great for oily skin, and the Better Than Sex mascara that our style editor Nafeesa can’t stop raving about!
Too Faced, available at Sephora stores islandwide
For high-performance foundations: alima PURE
Cruelty-free and vegan
Cruelty-free and crafted from the purest, natural ingredients for maximum impact, Alima Pure’s diverse range of foundation shades are far from dull. Its luxe, high-performance products are created to enhance your best features, and are absolutely fab for an all-day wear!
alima PURE, available at Sephora stores islandwide
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